AE 798 [6]

No one can do good from charity
unless his spiritual mind is opened,
and the spiritual mind is opened only by person
abstaining from doing evils and shunning them,
and finally turning away from them
because they are contrary to
the Divine commandments in the Word,
thus contrary to the Lord.
When a person so shuns and turns away from evils
all things that he thinks, wills, and does, are good
because they are from the Lord;
for the Lord is continually present,
knocks at the door,
is urgent and wishes to enter,
but evils oppose;
therefore a person must open the door
by removing the evils,
for it is only when evils are removed
that the Lord enters and sups there (Revelation 3:20).
It is said that a person opens and removes,
because it is from self that a person does evils;
and inasmuch as the Lord is continually present,
knocks at the door, and is urgent,
as has been said,
a person has the ability to refrain from evils
as if of himself;
this ability is also given to every person.
This is why, since a person can of himself
close heaven to himself
he can also
as if of himself
open heaven,
provided he thinks and wills to refrain from evils,
looks to the Lord,
and when he refrains
acknowledges that it is from the Lord.
When, therefore, evils have been removed,
whatever a person does is good,
since it is from the Lord . . ..